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The trend of sharing in social networks whatever we are up to in the very moment (“What’s on your mind” on Facebook, “What’s happening” on Twitter) produces day after day tons of unstructured data. With the rise of Foursquare a more specific and structured way of sharing “real life” activities evolved, like the “check-in” at a defined Point of Interest (POI).

The German startup business Applab just released an iPhone app following this same development. The app waydoo (“What are you doing?”) is nothing new, there already are a couple of similar applications on the American market. However, I want to take it as an example for an interesting specialization of the “what are you up to”-movement.

Users of waydoo can share with their friends what TV show or movie they are watching, what songs or radio channel they are listening to or what book they are reading. In short, waydoo allows you (per app or website) to report your use of media. The user can only “check-in” at products stored in the waydoo database, that in this case is focusing on the German media market. Other users can like or comment on check-ins and earn points and badges for their activities on the platform.

The advantage of specialized networks like waydoo (compared to Twitter where users just type in an empty text field): This method generates a lot more structured data. This can be used to obtain more information about media usage and user preferences. Waydoo shows ratings of TV shows according to the number of users that checked in to a show. With a high amount of users this information could one day deliver useful data to TV companies.

Last but not least the most important question: How is Applab planning to make money with waydoo? They want to build partnerships with media providers or offer TV channels, radio stations or film producers in-app ad spaces. Moreover, for example a TV station could design an individual badge and reward users frequently checking in to its TV shows.